Bull Series Premiere Review

Procedurals don't get much acclaim, they often are criticized, but I am excited for CBS's new legal procedural. Let's see if it's a good one!

S1E1 "The Necklace"
The episode begins with the theme of "innocent until proven guilty". Another theme at the start seems to be technology and social media. Michael Weatherly quickly makes Dr. Bull into an interesting character in the way he acts toward the father of the young man who is on trial. Weatherly's performance is important, because his character is central to make this show successful or not.

It takes a while before we really get to meet the young man that Dr. Bull is trying to save. He finally has a scene where he talks to Bull at the end of act two. At this point, not much has really happened in the episode, besides showing how difficult this case will be, but I don't think that a third of the episode needs to be devoted to that.

The case finally heats up in the third act, and it is an interesting case. Halfway through the episode, Dr. Bull sees the key to winning the case, and the scene that follows is great. We need more scenes like this, where Bull gets into the brains of the defendant.

The courtroom becomes intense, and I love it. The episode got off to a slower start, but it has improved greatly. One more theme in this episode is Bull watching people, and I like that theme a lot. Innocent until proven guilty is a good starting point. The technology and social media theme seems to aggressively target a young demographic. But this theme is central to the show's plot, and it actually makes the show feel like real life. I didn't like the last minute of the episode, because I felt that it wasn't necessary. It doesn't matter who did it, what matters is that the character we met this week receives justice.

The second act was weaker, but Weatherly's performance was so fantastic, which is going to make this a great show.

Score: 8.5/10

What did you think of "The Necklace"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!